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Uncover 'cracks and flaws' now, before it's too late: Savage

Subtle shifts in the employment market should now be prompting recruitment leaders to 'stress test' whether their businesses can withstand a downturn, says industry advisor Greg Savage.

In areas such as accounting, business support and legal there have been some "minimal but definitely recognisable signs of a slowdown in job orders", extending in more recent weeks to IT, which was previously "immune", he tells Shortlist.

To put this in context, job orders have gone from "really buoyant" to "just good", he stresses, while clients are being "more selective" in who they hire.

Potentially this is the typical end-of-year slowdown occurring a bit earlier than usual, Savage says. Or, "it might just be a slowdown, a gentle one which could be helpful actually, but if this is a big decline or even a recession, there are a lot of people who are not in a position to cope with that, at all"...